ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule seems to have heeded the Economic Freedom Fighters's (EFF) call to build a statue for late Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Addressing thousands of ANC Women's League (ANCWL) members and congregants at a memorial service at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto yesterday, Magashule said Madikizela-Mandela deserves a statue as EFF leader Julius Malema had suggested.

"I believe what he said, I believe that Winnie deserves a statue. She was a special, unique leader. We have done a disservice to comrade Winnie Mandela," said Magashule.

However, he did not put a timeline to it.

Last week, former finance minister Trevor Manuel laid into Magashule for failing to restore Madikizela-Mandela's house in Brandfort where she was banished by the apartheid regime between 1977 and 1986.

Manuel alleged that money was allocated to the Free State government to restore the house as a museum, but till today, it was in a dire state.

Magashule, the former Free State premier, also pleaded with ANC members to stop dividing the party as it caused negativity.

He said: "I think we are more infiltrated today because we are dealing with our own. The character of the ANC has changed and it continues to change [but] it requires all of us to come in and defend the ANC and its character."

The ANC has been engulfed by factionalism and votes were close at the 54th national elective conference at Nasrec in December.

Magashule threw his weight behind the now-minister in the Presidency and former African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when it came to the crunch. But she lost the presidency to Cyril Ramaphosa who is now president of the ANC and South Africa.